Boss Dave Carter's message to his AFC Portchester squad ahead of final run-in after huge disappointment of semi-final defeat to arch-rivals Fareham Town

The Royals suffered the hefty blow of a 1-0 League Cup semi-final defeat at arch-rivals Fareham Town on Tuesday night.

Captain Steve Ramsey missed a second-half penalty in the last-four tie with Portchester boss Carter less than impressed with the efforts from his side in their past two outings against PO postcode neighbours Fareham and Moneyfields respectively.

All of the focus for the Royals now goes into achieving the highest league placing they can with 15 points still to play for, as they currently sit in eighth spot with place-above Baffins Milton Rovers three points better off – but still well within their sights.

And after a strong second half of the campaign which had seen Portchester suffer just three defeats in 20 games in all competitions, Carter stressed he does not want that to be overshadowed by a stuttering finish in the final few matches.

‘Our thing now (main target) is a top-eight finish and to do that we need to be picking up points in the final games and playing well,’ revealed Carter.

‘It's picking the lads up - there's five games till the end of the season - two of them are against teams in the top-three so we've got some tough asks. Really, they'll be working for their place to get in the squad next season (AFC Portchester players).

‘I don't know what was wrong with us Tuesday (Fareham semi-final defeat), we were very flat first-half, we didn't play well enough.

‘There are no excuses from Tuesday night (semi-final defeat at Fareham), we didn't deserve anything out of it, we didn't play well enough.

‘They managed the game very well, slowed things down and stopped us playing, so good luck to them in the final.’

The Royals will be bidding to quickly bounce back from their cup semi-final defeat when they travel to third-placed Shaftesbury on Saturday.

Carter added: ‘It's important we finish the season as strong as possible. We've got a tough game Saturday against Shaftesbury, they're flying at the moment on their 3G pitch, (they’re a) very strong side and favourites to get second place in the league I'd imagine.’

Brazilian striker Felipe Barcelos should be back available this weekend after his late withdrawal from the squad to face Fareham in midweek.

But Carter will be without both the suspended attacking duo of Bradley Lethbridge and 12-goal Rafa Ramos.